ISTANBUL, Turkey - Hundreds of riot police surrounded a park in central Istanbul on Saturday, firing tear gas and water cannons in a renewed push by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to restore order after two weeks of demonstrations that have exasperated his government and exposed the country's deepening political divide. Police forces surrounded Gezi Park shortly before nightfall. They moved beneath sycamore trees toward tents and crowds of hundreds of protesters. Some demonstrators reportedly threw rocks but the dissidents appeared to be overwhelmed by security forces, whose lines spread into adjoining Taksim Square.

Apparently, Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer feels she just hasn't yet done enough to tarnish her state's reputation. After defiantly defending SB 1070, the noxious Arizona law that sought to bully immigrants into leaving the state - only to have the U.S. Supreme Court strike down the bulk of it - she is now waging a new fight against immigrants. Brewer is back in federal court, this time defending her 2012 executive order denying driver's licenses to young immigrants who have been granted temporary protection from deportation by the Obama administration.

Mariah Carey, whose clash with fellow "American Idol" judge Nicki Minaj has made headlines overshadowing the talent competition, warned Fox before the season began that having herself and the rapper-singer on the same panel could cause trouble, said her husband, Nick Cannon. In an appearance on the "KTLA Morning News," Cannon said of the feud, "My wife [had] foreseen all this. She tried to tell the network, 'I don't think this is going to work. I'm afraid ... I don't need this.'" Cannon said Carey warned that pairing her and Minaj on the same panel was "taking it in the wrong direction, because this is going to turn into one of those reality shows.

Mariah Carey and Nick Cannon lived out a fairy-tale "Fantasy" wedding Tuesday at the Disneyland Resort where they marked their fifth wedding anniversary with a renewal of vows and celebrated their twins' second birthday. "On our way to renew our vows," Carey tweeted beforehand. "I love you @Nick Cannon. " Carey and Cannon married in the Bahamas on April 30, 2008, and exactly three years later welcomed "dem babies. " The couple renew their vows every year in a full, over-the-top ceremony -- last year at the Eiffel Tower in Paris.

February 7, 2013 | By Robert Lloyd, Los Angeles Times Television Critic

Let us consider Nick Cannon, who is never long out of sight but busy out of sight as well. He may currently be seen as a version of himself on Kevin Hart's BET reality-show parody, "The Real Husbands of Hollywood," and when it's in season, as the host of NBC's "America's Got Talent. " He co-hosted ABC's "Disney Parks Christmas Day Parade" special in December; a revival of his MTV improv-games series "Wild N Out" is currently in production; and simply by virtue of being married to Mariah Carey and the father of their twins, he remains more or less constantly in the public eye. Now Cannon has created "The Incredible Crew" - not for Nickelodeon this time but Cartoon Network - a single-camera sketch comedy already in progress.

It would be wrong to base one's judgments about politicians too heavily on their gaffes. Public speakers are exposed to microphones so often that it would be shocking if the occasional boneheaded remark didn't slip out. But in the case of National Rifle Assn. Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre, the achingly incongruous statements tend not to come from off-the-cuff remarks but carefully vetted prepared statements. Which leaves us to wonder: How can anybody possibly attract such a large and financially powerful following by uttering statements that defy third-grade logic?

January 15, 2013 | By Robert Lloyd, Los Angeles Times Television Critic

Kevin Hart's amiable, loose-limbed "Real Husbands of Hollywood," which premieres Tuesday on BET, is not so much a parody of the Bravo franchise, whose name it echoes and structure it borrows, as it is a kind of (mostly) black "Curb Your Enthusiasm. " As with Larry David's HBO comedy, the successful entertainers play themselves as unremarkable, petty, confused, obsessive, argumentative and rarely bothered with actual work. (Which does pretty much describe the cast of any "Real Housewives" series you might name.)

Bravo's "Real Housewives" franchise has inspired many things. Plastic surgery. Prenup agreements. Divorce. But on BET it's led to a new comedy series called "Real Husbands of Hollywood. " The series, which premieres Jan. 15, spoofs the long chain of "Housewives" programs and focuses on celebrity friends who hang out together, usually while their famous actress wives are working. The series stars Kevin Hart, Boris Kodjoe, Nick Cannon, J.B. Smoove, Robin Thicke and Duane Martin and, like the Bravo reality series, features a lot of screaming, cursing and fighting.

Over objections of Central Coast residents and environmental groups, Pacific Gas & Electric plans to map earthquake fault zones near its Diablo Canyon nuclear plant by blasting high-decibel air cannons under the surface of the ocean. PG&E's plan calls for towing a quarter-mile-wide array of underwater "air cannons" that emit 250-decibel blasts into the ocean every 15 seconds for 12 straight days. The sonic reflections would be picked up by underwater receivers and analyzed to provide detailed 3-D images of the geometry, relationships and ground motions of several fault zones near the Diablo facility, which generates enough energy to meet the needs of more than 3 million Northern and Central Californians.

The tall ships dueling off the coast of Dana Point were only supposed to look like they were at war. But after the cannon aboard the tall ship Amazing Grace rumbled, the stinging pain that Donna Reed felt in her legs was quite real. "It was like a scene from 'The Exorcist,' " said Reed, her wounds still sore days later. "I started to bleed in several different areas. " She had been shot. So it went during what was supposed to be a climactic moment in the Ocean Institute's annual tall ships festival: the Saturday evening mock cannon fight that would simulate the spectacle of a historic battle on the high seas.